Portland, Maine, says no to $15 minimum wage

Voters in Portland, Maine, Tuesday rejected a measure that would have enacted a $15 minimum wage and upped the minimum for tipped workers to $11.25 by July 2019, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The proposed legislation faced opposition from local restaurants, some of which said they would need to increase prices and move to a no-tipping model to offset higher labor costs, the Press Herald says. The city had previously voted to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016.

A number of cities across the country have made recent strides toward a $15 wage, as has New York state, which last week saw amplified efforts to block Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan for a $15 wage for fast-food workers.

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